Can We Be Friends?

March 11, 1986

OTTAWA — Soviet Ambassador Alexei Rodionov said last week he has instructions from the new Soviet leadership: Get back on Canada's good side. The Soviet Union wants to resume a wide-ranging program of official exchanges with Canada as part of a general effort to expand relations between the two countries. Alexei Makarov, the No. 2 man at the Soviet Embassy, said Canada is the only NATO country that has not resumed an official exchange program with the Soviet Union. Canadian-Soviet scientific, cultural, economic and academic exchanges were terminated after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.